This is basically what it comes down to. If we're being honest, even if the 49ers have a major hangover from last week... they should still beat Arizona at home. That would mean we play the winner of Dallas vs Washington in the first round of the playoffs.

Who would you rather have?

On the one hand, we've beaten Dallas already. They've got a few defensive players on IR and even DeMarcus Ware is hurt now. They've also picked up big time in recent weeks and Romo has looked pretty sharp. The offense is rolling. And if they go into Washington and upset the Redskins, they'll have a lot of momentum. And the fact we beat them up so much last time might give them a 'revenge' edge.

Washington are a hot team at the moment, but RGIII looked a little groggy last week. How much is that knee affecting him? And considering the overall speed of our offense, is it a good match-up for us? On the other hand, Griffin is having a spectacularly efficient year and nearly every break has fallen his way when he's needed it to. And with San Francisco hosting the #6 seed in round one unless the Packers lose at Minnesota, the chances are we'll have to be an early game in Washington and maybe a 10am start.

I go back and forth between the two. I think Dallas will be an easier road environment to win in. But I think Washington has a weaker defense which we could take advanatage of. Both QB's create some problems. I'll feel confident but not fully comfortable against either of them.

Washington. I think we can contain RGIII. Beside RGIII no one else scares me on that offense and their defense is far from being 100% with orakpo and carriker gone for the year and Deangelo Hall will takes chances and give up big plays every now and then. Dallas on the other hand has probably the second hottest receiver in the game right now in Dez Bryant along with Jason Witten, Miles Austin, Demarrco Murray. That is a lot of firepower some that will be extremely difficult to contend with even for our defense i just don't like the matchup. So i would prefer the Skins over playing the Boys for a second time. Our boys just gotta know that RGIII has elite speed out of there and need to compensate for their pursuit angles.

Kelly.Orr wrote:Washington. I think we can contain RGIII. Beside RGIII no one else scares me on that offense and their defense is far from being 100% with orakpo and carriker gone for the year and Deangelo Hall will takes chances and give up big plays every now and then. Dallas on the other hand has probably the second hottest receiver in the game right now in Dez Bryant along with Jason Witten, Miles Austin, Demarrco Murray. That is a lot of firepower some that will be extremely difficult to contend with even for our defense i just don't like the matchup. So i would prefer the Skins over playing the Boys for a second time. Our boys just gotta know that RGIII has elite speed out of there and need to compensate for their pursuit angles.

Morris is pretty good. I think RGIII + Morris could give us a tough time, especially the way the defense has played on the road sometimes.

The media would... but unfortunately (I may be wrong) I think if San Francisco ends up with the #3 seed they'll be guaranteed to be the late game on the Saturday or Sunday of the Wild Card weekend (I would guess Saturday). That would mean an early start on Sunday for us because I don't think both NFC games can be the late games. Might be wrong like I said. Although I don't buy too much into the 10am stuff... I'd rather have a friendlier start time.

I can only imagine the level of confidence at Seahawk world headquarters with this news on Sherman combined with the return of Browner. Must be at a fever pitch.

Pete said at his press conference "we are still not playing at the level we are capable of..." That probably sounded like false bravado to the avg fan, but look at our numbers and that becomes easier to believe. No single stat from any single player, inc RW makes you go "holy bejesus...no wonder we are blowing teams out". Not really, it's just been good solid team play and sound fundamentals. You have to think Pete has something special ready to unleash. IMO, there will be no winner when Dallas meets Washington this Sunday.

Kelly.Orr wrote:Washington. I think we can contain RGIII. Beside RGIII no one else scares me on that offense and their defense is far from being 100% with orakpo and carriker gone for the year and Deangelo Hall will takes chances and give up big plays every now and then. Dallas on the other hand has probably the second hottest receiver in the game right now in Dez Bryant along with Jason Witten, Miles Austin, Demarrco Murray. That is a lot of firepower some that will be extremely difficult to contend with even for our defense i just don't like the matchup. So i would prefer the Skins over playing the Boys for a second time. Our boys just gotta know that RGIII has elite speed out of there and need to compensate for their pursuit angles.

Morris is pretty good. I think RGIII + Morris could give us a tough time, especially the way the defense has played on the road sometimes.

I may underestimate Morris some. But he just doesn't have the eye popping explosiveness that scares me like Spiller, Peterson, Bush, and even Demarrco Murray have. That's the only reason why Dallas scares me more is they have explosive playmakers at every position on offense. You could say Santana Moss but he is well past his prime and i for one am not scare at all of Pierre Garcon.

Edit: Kind of funny actually. I had morris on my fantasy team all year lol. He was consistent but never really exploded often.

Don't think either stand a chance, but I'd prefer Dallas. It gets really cold in DC, which might be a factor. I remember when we played the Packers in 07 playoffs, and the seahawks just fell apart when it started to snow/blizzard. Also 2010 playoff game against the Bears. However we now have a dominant running attack, so maybe it won't be as much of a factor.

Definitely the Redskins. Even though the Seahawks outclass both teams, I would like to end the conversations about RGIII. And the Seahawks D knows the read option really well. The one team that also knows the read option is Carolina, which beat the Redskins easily (and that was when Cam was having problems).

Sherman v. Pierre Garcon is the primary matchup. When they don't have Garcon, Washington was 3 and 6. And the Seahawks are WAY better than the teams they've played. So this leaves Alfred Morris and RGIII. RGIII is all about hitting the big plays, he isn't a big dink and dunker. So the answer to negating Alfred Morris isn't just jumping on them and gaining the lead. RGIII is good in this position as he's good at using his arm to break down a point difference.

So it's about gaining the lead and keeping him off the field. Which means putting up points, pound the rock, then throw on third. Something we did with disastrous effect against San Francisco. Best way to stop him is to keep him off the field of course.

RGIII pulls the same role out play action Russell does, so this shouldn't be anything new for us.

I don't like the Cowboys because every once in a while Tony Romo wakes up and stings a team. He also has a lot more targets then RGIII: Austin/Bryant/Whitten. Also you can’t sleep on the Cowboys, they had a tough schedule and have kept themselves in it. Look at the points per game and they are almost the same between both teams.I would say the Cowboys are the better team, and expect them to win. But I don’t want to play them at the massive stadium.

Shock2k wrote:Definitely the Redskins. the Seahawks D knows the read option really well. The one team that also knows the read option is Carolina, which beat the Redskins easily (and that was when Cam was having problems).

It doesn't matter. One of them will be in our way, and neither of them are prepared for the type of beating this team will bring to there doorstep. The Boys got but a taste of it in Seattle, will be hard to shake that trauma.

Washington has a defense that is playing better and is less hut though they still aren't great. Their offense has a great running game (#1 by yards) that sets up RGIII and the passing game (though somehow it is only Wilson that has the running game set up his passing game lol).

Dallas is more explosive on offense but has no running game and seemingly a defense that is injured and playing poorly.

I would rather play Dallas as we could again make them 1-dimensional on offense and eat through there defense. Washington would be outdoors and a little tougher as their running game would make it harder on our defense.

Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, and assuming we are the 5th seed; I definitely see us playing on Sunday. Mainly b/c WAS/DAL is the late game on Sunday, so that rules out Saturday right there. I do think they'll put possibly the Cincy/Baltimore vs. Indy game (AFC 4 vs 5) as the early game either on Sat/Sun, and if it is Sunday, then I think we get the late game on Sunday. IF NE is the 3rd seed, then I see them getting the late game Saturday, which means the Niners would get the early game on Saturday.

Again, probably way ahead of myself...long complicated story short, I see us as the late game Sunday as long as NE is third seed in AFC

My brother is a big Dallas fan and I've watched their games quite a bit when the Hawks weren't on. Tony Romo might bet semi-hot right now but the guy is gambler and makes stupid throws costing his team and their WRs run terrible routes. It's almost like their winging it out there. No one really seems to know what one another is doing out there. Poorly disciplined o-line that has lots false starts and holding calls. And their home field advantage is a joke. Everyone gets a turn kicking butt on the Cowboys in Texas Stadium.

On top of that, Ware is hurt with a shoulder injury and its not gonna get better if we play them. Terrible safeties always out of position giving up the big play. LBs all hurt.

They are a terribly wounded defense. With Beastmode and Russ as our foundation, I feel we slap them up good in front of their crowd and my brother leaves my house pissed off.

I don't agree with any of the scheduling discussions that are going on.

The league has absolutely had a team that had a game Sunday night play on Saturday in the playoffs, so don't make any assumptions there. (In fact, it happened at 4:30 PM ET, January 8, 2011, when we played the Saints at home, on a Saturday, after playing the Rams in a flex game Sunday night to determine who won the West.)

Also, it's very typical for there to be a late afternoon and a night game Saturday, and a morning and an afternoon game Sunday i.e. there's a reasonable chance that we don't have to play at 10 AM.

Take a look at this story from 2012 (i.e. last year) all times Eastern:

Basically there isn't a terrible amount of consistency but three of these four games occurred at times that are NOT 10 AM Pacific.

Some people are talking about "early" and "late" games Saturday and Sunday as if each of the early games are at 10 AM Pacific. They aren't, or more accurately, only one of them is.

Now, all that said, it is pretty typical for the NFC to have one early game and one late game, and it's also true that they won't start a game at 10 AM local time. If SF has the 3 seed in the NFC, they could play Saturday in either time slot, or Sunday late, but not Sunday morning. If the powers that be put SF in the Saturday night slot, we'd probably end up playing Sunday morning.

Another data point. My understanding is that CBS and FOX each pick one game they want (AFC and NFC respectively), and that NBC gets the other two. CBS and FOX televise on Sunday, and NBC televises on Saturday. That's the way it worked last year. Ah, here we go:

says we have NBC, NBC on Saturday, and the networks swap for Sunday i.e. last year was FOX then CBS, this year is CBS then FOX.

I could go all over the place depending on if SF or GB make it as the 3 seed, and who is in as the four seed. If it's Washington, I would be pretty sure that FOX wants that game, and so that's the "late" Sunday game (actually Sunday afternoon). If it's Dallas, well, hell, I'd suspect FOX would want that game too. Hmmm. Seems to me that an earlier poster is probably right... if we end up the five seed, we'll probably play on FOX on Sunday afternoon.

BocciHawk, if your post/research about FOX definitely having the late game on Sunday, I think that bodes well for us, pretty much guarantees not 10am game either day. That, I like! Regardless of whom we play or when we play, I think we win, and still hoping for a home game and/or bye!

I would like to see Dallas beat RGIII so that Wilson will have a better chance for ROY. I would also love to see us put a big hurt on the Cowboys who might be thinking more about self preservation than revenge.

RolandDeschain wrote:We have Sherman for the playoffs. Bring 'em both on. B-Swag can spy RG3 and hold him up for Kam to teach him why he can't run like that.

I thought i was the only one calling B.Wagner B Swag. Guess not. Its one of my Favorite nicknames tho. Anyway OP. I think it doesn't matter to me cuz they both have there pros and cons. East coast vs West Coast, turf vs grass, dome vs elements, then u got the match ups. Lets just keep doing what we're doing and it shouldn't matter who we end up playing. We should glide right to the SB if we stay on the track we're on now. I heard someone say Pete said that we can do better. If that's true then I'm so ready to see this all go down. This is starting to look like it has the makings of a chance to be my favorite group of players minus 2 maybe 3 (Tru, Hill, ?) that the Seahawks have had before.

I'd rather play Washington. RG3 is hurt and looked far less explosive last week. Washington does not have nearly the receiving weapons that Dallas has, and their defense is not as good. Romo has been on fire on the other hand. I think Dallas is the better team right now

Kelly.Orr wrote:Washington. I think we can contain RGIII. Beside RGIII no one else scares me on that offense and their defense is far from being 100% with orakpo and carriker gone for the year and Deangelo Hall will takes chances and give up big plays every now and then. Dallas on the other hand has probably the second hottest receiver in the game right now in Dez Bryant along with Jason Witten, Miles Austin, Demarrco Murray. That is a lot of firepower some that will be extremely difficult to contend with even for our defense i just don't like the matchup. So i would prefer the Skins over playing the Boys for a second time. Our boys just gotta know that RGIII has elite speed out of there and need to compensate for their pursuit angles.

Morris is pretty good. I think RGIII + Morris could give us a tough time, especially the way the defense has played on the road sometimes.

I may underestimate Morris some. But he just doesn't have the eye popping explosiveness that scares me like Spiller, Peterson, Bush, and even Demarrco Murray have. That's the only reason why Dallas scares me more is they have explosive playmakers at every position on offense. You could say Santana Moss but he is well past his prime and i for one am not scare at all of Pierre Garcon.

Edit: Kind of funny actually. I had morris on my fantasy team all year lol. He was consistent but never really exploded often.

One word sums up Morris - Shanahan

Just be happy Shanahan doesn't coach Minnesota or AP would be going for 3,000 yards...

DTexHawk wrote:anyone thinking that a 10 year veteran tight end with 799 receptions is "terrified" of any player in the league is sadly mistaken.

Perhaps a harsh word to choose in retrospect, but Witten became less interested in adding to his career catches haul after the first big hit in Week 2. (Certainly more believeable than a TE of 700+ receptions suddenly forgetting how to catch?) It was one of the reasons, if not the main one, why their offense spluttered through the whole game.

"Jason Witten had nearly as many drops as catches through three games this season, back when his side still hurt just about every time he moved because of a lacerated spleen.

The Dallas Cowboys tight end dismissed any suggestion that the injury had anything to do with an uncharacteristic case of stone hands. The seven-time Pro Bowler didn't really even want to say how long it took to feel normal again once he decided to play in the season opener just 23 days after getting hurt in a preseason game."

Division winners are seeded one through four, and the two wild cards are five and six. First round (Wild Card weekend) is six at three, and five at four. You cannot host a first round playoff game if you are not a division winner. (Can't host a second round game if you are not a division winner, either, as the second round games are hosted by one and two.) Theoretically a wild card could host the NFC championship, if the six seed wins in the first two rounds, and the five seed wins in the first two rounds, then five would host six, but I don't know if that's ever happened, seems awfully unlikely.

"Jason Witten had nearly as many drops as catches through three games this season, back when his side still hurt just about every time he moved because of a lacerated spleen.

The Dallas Cowboys tight end dismissed any suggestion that the injury had anything to do with an uncharacteristic case of stone hands. The seven-time Pro Bowler didn't really even want to say how long it took to feel normal again once he decided to play in the season opener just 23 days after getting hurt in a preseason game."

What if Dallas win but Min, Chi, and NYG lose. Washington would be the 6th seed and play at SF

So would FOX pick

Sea @ DalorWas @ SF

I think Dallas fields a team that is more explosive and when hot could beat anybody but they don't have much if any homefield advantage, whereas the Redskins aren't scary on offense or defense, basically just RG3, but they do get the job done and would be a tougher environment.

I would be more entertained by a RW vs RG3 matchup and think a win for RW over RG3 would be incredible for his career. All the RG3 hype only to show him up and all the pundits that overlooked him. A much bigger chip on the should type of game.

Playing Dallas I fear them coming into the gme much more prepared and read for revenge as we smacked them down earlier this year, no way they would let us do that again.